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A rematch is in the works for UFC 101 on Aug 8 in Philadelphia as lightweights Shane Nelson and Aaron Riley will do battle for the second time inside of six months after the pair fought to a controversial stoppage during their original fight at UFC 96 in March.
The bout was confirmed to MMAWeekly.com on Tuesday by a source close to Nelson's camp.
Shane Nelson came into UFC 96 just one fight removed from his time on the "Ultimate Fighter", and looked good in the early going, dropping his opponent with a big shot that put Riley on the canvas.
As Riley kicked up to defend himself once on the ground, referee Rick Fike rushed in to stop the action, declaring Nelson the winner much to the dismay of the Ohio crowd who saw that the fight seemed far from over.

Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson has been pencilled in for an August shot at the light-heavyweight title, Fighters Only has been told.
Former champion Jackson might headline either UFC 102 or UFC 103, the latter possibly being a UK event, according to an industry source.

"Who is next to say goodbye?"
This past Saturday night at the Bell Centre in Montreal marked an emotional evening for not just the Iceman, but for the Mixed Martial Arts community as a whole. Chuck Liddell has been a front-runner in one of the most stacked divisions in the sport for as long as most of us can remember, but in the last two years of his prolific, exciting, and accomplished career, his aura has melted, exposing his age and the fact that the level of competition has simply passed him by. The changing of the guard happens in every sport, but not as frequently and quickly as in MMA. In the span of sixteen years we’ve seen multiple generations emerge and fall victim to the next, and at this juncture in 2009 it is happening again. The major difference between this passing of the torch from Chuck Liddell’s generation to Mauricio Rua’s at UFC 97, is the fact that the Iceman’s generation was the first to really cast the UFC into the mainstream spotlight, making him one of the sport’s first truly iconic superstars.

More Anderson Silva news:
"Technically, I really didn't see anything wrong with the way he fought. Who goes in there and fights five rounds with somebody and doesn't even have a mark on his face? Not too many people can do that."

… according to his long-time trainer, John Hackleman, in the latest interview with Action Sports:
“It’s going to be done when Chuck decides it’s done and we sit down somewhere on the beach probably in Hawaii and just say you know what it’s done, then we’ll decide. Not after a fight that he got stopped by one of the best fighters on a planet, that’s not the time to decide if it’s done or not. He’s been ko’d twice in his entire life. It’s not time to retire because of that.”

Despite Roy Jones' suggestions to the contrary, the fight between Jones and Anderson Silva will almost surely never happen, at least not on a major stage. First of all, Silva has 3 or 4 more fights on his current deal. The deal is not done in September. Silva signed a six fight extension in 2008.
The second obstacle is Anderson's contractual status. If he continues to win, his contract automatically extends under the championship clause. If he loses, the value in this fight pretty much disappears. He's trapped in the contract, which may explain his recent tantrums.
The third obstacle is that there's no money in this if Anderson loses and the UFC isn't involved. Without UFC promotion, this fight is worthless on PPV, and the UFC will never be involved in promoting this.

June 20 will be a good night for Joe Rogan fans. After he's done working the TUF 9 finale, Spike will air a one-hour special from his comedy performance taped the night before UFC 96. And according to Rogan, the midnight ET timeslot means the show can and will air uncensored.

A little less than three months out from his rematch with Brock Lesnar at UFC 100, and Frank Mir is already starting in on the trash talk and mind games in this Raw Vegas interview. He's decided to go the self-deprecating route, which means Forrest Griffin has a royalty check coming. Mir also isn't afraid to toss a few little burns in there just for the hell of it, even commenting at one point on the "penis" tattooed on Lesnar's chest. You can thank Dave Farra for bringing that up. Hey, we were all thinking it.
Aside from the Lesnar talk, Mir offers the best response yet to the inevitable Fedor questions. Instead of doubting his credentials and just refusing to talk about the guy, Mir says it's "not fair" that other heavyweights have gotten a chance to feel how hard Fedor hits and he might never get that opportunity. You have to admit he has a point. It's about time somebody called Fedor out on his discriminatory punching practices.

“ Don’t have much to say about the fight. Thales obviously wanted to fight on the ground and even took Anderson down, but couldn’t keep him there. I really disliked it when Thales would just fall to his butt and expect Anderson to jump on top of him; but even more disappointing was Anderson’s lack of aggressiveness. He never seemed like he wanted to finish the fight. Halfway through the third round … we just decided to go home. It’s not the first time that Anderson has done this to me. When he fought Cote, it was about the same thing. Next time we have a party and Anderson is on the card…. Well, I’ll just say that at least I can expect to take a bathroom break or to go grab a refreshment when it comes time for him to fight. I heard Dana’s comments after the fight and how he was embarrassed. I don’t think Dana should be embarrassed all he can do is put the fighters in the octagon and once again I was a little surprised to hear Dana say this; but Dana White is a man who speaks what’s on his mind.”

Although Josh Burkman has been unofficially out of UFC since November when his contract expired it's now official. UFC officially released Burkman several weeks ago, it was revealed today. He was 5-5 in UFC but has lost 3 straight and 4 of his last 5.

Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, coming off a first round knockout of former light heavyweight kingpin Chuck Liddell, has an opponent in mind for his next fight.
In an interview he did with the Brazilian website Tatame, Rua said that although no opponents have been offered he would like to fight Forrest Griffin again.

“How much Vaseline can they put on someone’s eyebrows that’s going to make a difference? Where’s he going to wipe it? If he wasn’t wiping it on his shorts, where would he wipe it? It wasn’t like he was rubbing it in. He just took it off. We didn’t put it on. It was [the cutman] that put it on.”

UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre needs to get by Thiago Alves at UFC 100, and middleweight champion Anderson Silva needs at least another win (likely at light heavyweight).
Additionally, the city would actually need to first regulate the sport of mixed martial arts, something the UFC is optimistic will happen by early 2010.
But UFC President Dana White is bullish on the possibility of a St. Pierre vs. Silva mega-fight taking place in Toronto sometime soon.

“There were no changes. I knew that before the fight because an inside source told me that it was just a front. It’s too late for him. His reactions and ability to take punishment is gone and you could never get that back.”
He deteriorated so fast, it’s not even funny. Just a season ago he was on his way back after his win over Wandy and now, it’s over. You have to wonder if he is on the border of a medical problem.”

by Jordan Breen (jbreen@sherdog.com)
17092
Anderson Silva fascinates me. He fascinates me now more than ever.
Since his metamorphosis into the human weapon in 2005, Silva has been largely a counterstriker whose penchant for brutality is only coaxed out through fighters who attempt to draw first blood, such as Chris Leben, Rich Franklin, Travis Lutter and so on. At this point, Silva's reputation is almost cancerous. Fighters are too hesitant to engage him without the most meticulous planning of every single body movement, which results in long periods of nothingness in the cage.
So, if I have a logical explanation for Silva’s last two throne defenses, why do I have a sense of wonder about Silva that hadn't existed for the better part of a decade I’ve been watching him? It isn't just his sudden turn from beloved MMA hero to enigmatic public enemy. It is the fact that this unfortunate transformation has coincided with his Roy Jones Jr. obsession.
Never mind the fact that Silva is obsessed with boxing a fighter who, however faded, is still a serious pugilist -- a fact that can't be trivialized (ask celebrated striker K.J. Noons, who was handled in a recent six-round boxing match against anonymous competition). Silva's fixation on Jones is an anachronism: Jones is nearly seven years past his prime, not a great draw outside of his faithful Floridian fans and the boxing world generally wants the former pound-for-pound king to bow out rather than embarrass himself by fighting onward. Silva's angling for Jones is clearly not based on prestige, unless Silva is akin to Hiroo Onoda in his avoidance of boxing news over the last six years.
Given Silva's opportunity to feasibly wipe out every serious challenger at middleweight, and take on challenges at 205 pounds, I find his desire to fight Jones truly fascinating. I don't find it fascinating for the potential fight itself, where I would expect Silva to be simply and soundly outboxed, out of his depth in the vastly different waters of the sweet science. It engrosses me partially because I can't rationalize it: With prestige not part of the equation, what is it about RJJ that is so magnetic and enchanting for Silva? That question has led me to fixate on the parallels between the two fighters and has left me wondering if Silva sees Jones as more of an idol than an opponent.
The similarities between their careers are arresting. Since Silva's reemergence following the Chonan debacle, his lone loss was a maligned disqualification to Yushin Okami for an illegal upkick. During Jones' rapid climb to pound-for-pound preeminence, his only loss came at the hands of Montell Griffin, a bout in which he was disqualified for indiscreetly hitting Griffin after having knocked him down.

Light heavyweights Eric Schafer and Tomasz Drawl have signed contracts to fight at The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale on June 20th in Las Vegas.
MMAFrenzy.com learned of the 205-pound matchup on Sunday from a source close to one of the fighters.

Normally a stretch like 3 losses in your last 4 fights gets you cut from UFC. But Jason MacDonald, who is in such a stretch after losing ot Nate Quarry at UFC 97, may be spared Das Boot. Dana White said good things about MacDonald after the event, which suggest he'll probably stick around a bit longer despite this stretch and only being 5-5 in UFC.